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Shirin Sarikhani

Seattle Staged to Sell and Design

Born in Iran, Shirin moved to the United States when she was very young. As an adult, she lived in London for a while. After arriving in Seattle she decided that she’d like to start a home staging business. And that is how Seattle Staged to Sell began in 2005.

Since then she’s been very successful and added some new designers to help her with her large workload. And after a lot of home owners saw how wonderful she made their homes look when they were getting ready to sell and they decided to hire her to also help with design for their new homes. So that is how Seattle Staged to Sell and Design started.

JULIE: So you’re in Seattle and we talked briefly about the fact that it’s pretty common for homes to be staged in Seattle when they go on the market right?

SHIRIN: Yes, basically home staging somehow started in Seattle back in the 1990s by Bob Schwartz and so real estate agents and home owners in the Seattle area are very used to the idea of home staging. And very few homes come on the market that are not staged. And even though right now we are having a very hot real estate market in Seattle because of the enormous growth, most homes get sold with multiple offers, all cash, no contingency but we still do get calls from buyers and agents who have put their homes on the market not staged and they have not sold. And we go in, we stage it and they get sold within a week. So whether it’s a hot market or a low market, home staging really does make a difference.

JULIE: So the home staging really does help the property sell faster and I am wondering also does it help the home sell for more money usually?

SHIRIN: For sure, that’s why I try to educate my clients and let them know that home staging is not an expense it is an investment, because you get over 300% return on investment. It is amazing. Just to give you an example, we staged a home in Ballad neighborhood in Seattle that the agent told me that they’re going to put it on the market for $485 000. And the house got painted, with their recommendation we staged it and the agent came in and said, “Okay, we can list this home at $525 000.” So right from the start 50 000 went up. And I know for sure it will be a bloodbath over this house because it is in a trendy neighborhood, it is a really cute home and it shows really well and I’m sure it will get multiple offers.

JULIE: So when you recommend to a customer that they paint the interior, is that normally get all of the colors neutral or what do you recommend?

SHIRIN: Neutral colors sell the homes better but there are homes that have colors too that we have worked with the colors in the home. We can be asking to do touch ups, basically the idea is you want the home to look crisp and fresh. And I have gone into homes were the walls are green and blue and red and yellow and every room different and we work with that and we bring everything neutral. So there are two points I want people to know, one is neutral walls colors are always better – something fresh – but it is important to the home to look well maintained. When buyers come in and they see chips and dents, there are marks, scratches – they just don’t feel the home has been cared for and it’s off-putting. And that’s why it’s so important to prepare the home before you home goes on the market. You have one chance, and that’s in the beginning, to do it right. And those first few days in the market, in the beginning, are crucial so that is why the home owners have to do the work beforehand to get the home ready to go on the market, and painting is one of them.

JULIE: So some home owners I think feel like they don’t want to put any more money into the house and so they’re reluctant to do that sort of work upfront and they think, “Well, let me list it and see what happens and if it doesn’t sell then I’ll come back and get you in.”

SHIRIN: Right. And I have a situation with a home right now in Seattle, it is a 1.8 million dollar home that went on the market without being staged. And as for the home owners, they thought that the Seattle market is hot, it is a very sought after neighborhood, it is a high-end home, people can envision it so the house has not gotten any offers. And this is what I always tell my clients, “Home that are not prepared, when they go on the market, they help to sell the competition.” So that is something they need to know. And people are coming and they see dark halls, undefined spaces, not very much painted, there’s not much of a curb appeal – they just go to the next home. And that’s exactly what I was saying before, that first week that the home is on the market is very crucial. And if the homes are not prepared and they have lost that first two weeks being on the market they are in not a good position in getting the best offer.

JULIE: So when you say defining spaces, do you bring your own furniture in? Do you offer that service or do you work with the furniture?

SHIRIN: Yes, we have a big warehouse full of furniture yes.

JULIE: because I know not everyone is trained to do home staging correctly and I’ll tell you here on the east coast I’ve heard realtors say to me, “Well I have someone and what she does is she comes in, or he, and just puts some pillows and works with the customers furniture that they have.” And I’m wondering if you think that that really qualifies as home staging.

SHIRIN: Well there are different services for home staging. What you are referring to is probably called partial staging. You go into a home, I saw a home today for example, that they have good enough furniture. We go in, we tell them what to take out, what to leave and then once there are things that we can work with then for sure we use those and we can bring in other items to implement and to make that work and that is very effective as well. For some homes the furniture is not right at all, they have to take everything out. And some people have just already moved out and it’s vacant. About 85% of the homes that we stage are vacant stages, the other 15 maybe 20% are partial stages.

JULIE: So some houses, if it’s an open concept, it might be difficult for a buyer to walk into that house vacant and understand how to use the spaces properly so you’re specializing in that right?

SHIRIN: Right. So this is what happenShirin: The buyer, the builders do surveys of people who want to buy homes, everybody likes the idea of an open floor plan and open spaces but once they go into home that has that floor plan they get lost. They don’t know how to place the furniture because most people are used to putting their furniture against the wall, they don’t know that they can float it or how to use it. So they come and see it, they get overwhelmed and they go out. And that is one problem. And the second problem is that statistics shows that 98%, and I don’t know who the other 2% are, but 98% of people look online before they come and see the homes in person. And when those online photos just show vacant spaces they don’t get a feel for it and they jump in and go look at other listings. So it is really important to have the home staged so people can get a feel for the home, it is all about not only understanding the spaces but making an emotional connection. People will say, “Oh I can see myself living in this home. I can see raising my kinds in here. I can see my kids playing in this yard (or) I can see myself working in this home office.” So that is what you want to achieve and once you do that the home is sold.

JULIE: So it sounds like bringing the furniture in, I am wondering if that is very expensive or do people pay monthly for that. How does that work?

SHIRIN: Every stager works differently, every area has their own pricing so what happens in Manhattan, New York would be different from Wichita, Kansas because they are all different markets with different pricing. I recommend your listeners go to RESA which is the Real Estate Home Staging Association, they have a list of all he home stagers in different areas and they can ask for pricing in their area. Again, what I want is to educate people that they shouldn’t be saying, “Gee $4 000 is expensive for me to stage that house.” They should look at it as an investment, like this house I was telling you in Ballad, their staging fee for us was $5 000 but when the agent came inside and increased the listing price by $50 000 they we’re already $45 000 above that. So you have to look at is as an investment and what it returns. If people talk only about cost then that’s when it gets tricky.

Now saying this, I know that every home owner has budget and every home doesn’t require a full vacant staging either. If you’re home owners team up with a professional home stager maybe a simple consultation can do the work because we go in, we do this pre-listing consultation for $250, we advise them what to do. A lot of home owners who are especially on a tighter budget or the younger people that are very much a DIY people, they get the advice and they just follow it fully and their home will look great – ready for the market. But the point is to get a professional home stager in at the beginning and follow the advice. They must almost declutter but it’s replacing things so that is how they should go about it.

JULIE: Right. I come in usually after the home staging consultation because my business is home remodeling. So I usually come in after the consultation and I take down wallpaper – that’s often on the list, to take the wallpaper down – because that is very personalized right?

SHIRIN: Yes. I know sometimes people can’t afford to take wallpaper like the house we just did two weeks ago. We did it will all the wallpapers that were just Laura Ashley floral from the 1980s and they couldn’t afford to take it down because they have prepare the wall after that etc. So because we do this day in and day out we know who to recommend, we recommended a wonderful painter and they came and painted over the wallpaper and saved them money, freshened the home and updated the home with the least amount of money. So again, for your home owners to work with a professional home stager and their real estate agent – most of my clients, I want to say about 65% of my clients are real estate agents who call on me. And then the rest are homeowners who are informed and they reach out to me to come and see their homes ahead of time.

JULIE: So you sound like you’re really knowledgeable Shirin and I’m wondering what kind of training you had to get into home staging. Did you have a training program?

SHIRIN: So yes, this is what I always say, from the beginning when I was a kid I always had a design room. When I was in the dorm in college everybody would ask me to come and help their dorm room to look good and it was something that I always had in me. And when I was in England I owned a business with my sister in law that was an interior design business. And anytime I’ve sold a home, I’ve traveled and moved a lot and sold many homes in different countries and all of my homes have sold right away because I was doing the things that stagers would do, I just didn’t know it was called staging. And when I came to Seattle I had a real estate friend who said, “Shirin would you come and help me with my listings?” I was doing that and she said, “Hey you know Shirin you are really good at it. Why don’t you go get certification?” I went through Bob Schwartz’ certification program which is an ASP, did I learn a lot from that? Not really, just because I had a lot of experience doing things myself but what he gave me was the confidence of saying now I have this and I can stage the homes. And it has been 11 years since then and we are going strong. It’s something that I really enjoy, working with people, and I like homes so it’s a good fit for me.

JULIE: So you mentioned the Real Estate Staging Association organization, so you recommend that people choose a stager that’s listed with them because that means they have some training. How does that work?

SHIRIN: Yes, so this is another thing I like to emphasize, our industry is not regulated at all and different people have different ideas about home staging. Some people just think they bring a sofa and a chair and one wall art and one floor lamp and that is called staging – and there are a lot of home stagers that are like that. If you’re listeners are interested in hiring a home stager I really recommend for them to go look at their websites, look at their before/after photos, look at their gallery photos, make sure they are not stock photos – believe it or not there are some that use stock photo’s – and find someone that they really can rely on. Resa is a good source; it’s trying to help bring some home stagers together, collaborate and educate them so I think that’s a good place to start. And the most important thing is, like when I go stage a home for example, if I go stage a townhouse in one area and the same exact floor plan in a different area I will stage them totally differently because the demographic of the buyer is going to be totally different. So you want a home stager who understands the market, it is not just about bringing furniture in but understanding who the buyers are and creating a lifestyle. And that’s the key phrase – lifestyle – for that home. And that’s what your listeners should look for when they are trying to hire a home stager.

JULIE: So wow we were talking and I just went and had a look again at your website and of course I looked at it before I decided to invite you to be on the Ready for Market summit and I’m really impressed with the photos there. So if people want to take a look at some photo’s they can go to your website

right?

SHIRIN: Right.

JULIE: Okay wonderful. Well you have some really gorgeous pictures here and I am super impressed. And I’m also seeing on your website that you’ve won Best of Houzz for 2016, is that correct.

SHIRIN: 2016, 15, 14 and 13, yes four years in a row.

JULIE: Well it’s great to hear all of your ideas and opinions about home staging. I really do feel like you’re very knowledgeable in this market so I appreciate you being on our telesummit. And is there anything else you wanted to share with the listeners before we go?

SHIRIN: No that’s it. And I’m just emphasizing again, that first week is very important and be prepared when you come onto the market.